Rain, high winds lead to power outages in Halifax

Fallen tree branches litter the yard in front of the University of King’s College. Leah Woolley

Widespread power outages hit Halifax on Saturday, as high winds and rain pummelled the province.

According to the Nova Scotia Power Outage Map, the outages in the Halifax area began on Saturday morning. By early afternoon, there were more than 6,000 businesses and homes in the south end without electricity.

Power was restored to most customers by 8 p.m.

Nova Scotia Power said on Twitter that crews had been working to restore power since the first outage was discovered. More than 100 crews were out in the province.

We have 73 powerline crews, 21 contract powerline crews and 15 tree trimming crews working safely to get all customers restored as quickly as possible. Please report outages to 1-877-428-6004 and get the latest information at https://t.co/cKMppFqg0n. #nsstorm

In another tweet, Nova Scotia Power said that crews could only work to restore power when winds gust lower than 80 km/h, due to safety hazards for the workers.

High winds continue to move through the province today causing outages. Crews are restoring power safely as quickly as possible. When winds gust above 80 km/h, they pause restoration efforts, stand down, and resume when it's safe to do so. #nsstorm

@nspowerinc Three outages in less than three weeks is unacceptable for the downtown core of Halifax. We are a coastal city, we have wind and weather. This isn't an extreme circumstance, this is the norm. Your infrastructure should be able to handle the norm for the area it serves

A low pressure system from the northeastern United States moved into Nova Scotia Friday night, causing high winds of up to 90 km/h and dropping between 25 to 50 mm of rain. Environment Canada said the wind and rain were heaviest in the southwest area of the province.

Though the MacKay Bridge in Halifax was closed to high-sided vehicles early Saturday afternoon, it reopened around 1 p.m. Halifax Transit said on its website that buses were unaffected by the weather and would continue to operate on a regular schedule.

Several arriving and departing flights at Halifax Stanfield International Airport were cancelled or delayed.

This is the second round of power outages to hit Nova Scotia this month.